The second half of the tenth mantra of Apratiratha Sukta says: “asmaakam veeraah uttare bhavantu.” Sayanacharya, the 14th century commentator, said this was a prayer that one’s soldiers should be stronger than those of one’s enemies. In a discourse, V.S. Karunakarachariar explained the mantra from a Visishtadvaitic angle. If the mantra is talking about opponents, then who are the opponents of a Visishtadvaitin? They are those who oppose the teachings of Ramanujacharya. Those who argue with these opponents, and establish Ramanujacharya’s point of view are the soldiers of a Visishtadvaitin. Every school of philosophy has its defendants, and Visihtadvaita is no exception to this. The second half of the tenth mantra can be specifically related to the deity at Thiruvaheendrapuram in Tamil Nadu. Every year, in the Tamil month of Thai, the processional deity of the Thiruvaheendrapuram temple is taken to the banks of the Pennar.
When Vedanta Desika resided in Thiruvaheendrapuram, he used to accompany the deity to the river bank, and on such occasions, debated with scholars from other schools of philosophy. So the latter portion of the tenth mantra can be taken to refer to Thiruvaheendrapuram, where Desika refuted those who questioned the validity of Visishtadvaita. He was a soldier whose verbal battles on behalf of Visishtadvaita took place here. The plural veeraah is used in the mantra. The reference is not just to Desika, but to all the earlier Acharyas in whose footsteps Desika followed.
